2010-06-26

Joan Jett is Queen of Rock N Roll

She does not cease to amaze, and she did a heart pounding, chest expanding show at the Sonoma Marin Fair, June 25. Arriving recently from a tour that included Dublin and together with the formidable Blackhearts, Joan Jett belted out new songs, first songs ("School Days"), and classics ("Cherry Bomb"). In homage to Pride (June 25-27) in San Francisco, which she referred to as "that weekend", she sang "ACDC" (2006) and "Androgynous" (2006).

The eclectic crowd of all ages, children on parent's shoulders groovin' away, teenagers, families, couples and singles from all walks of life and style thomped, stomped and sang in unison to the Sonoma Marin Fair extravaganza including "I Love Rock N Roll", and "Crimson and Clover". Joan Jett looking as fabulous as ever and proving that she is way beyond being just an excellent show woman, continues to be the "Queen of Rock n Roll".

Joan Jett's life is the subject of a new film starring Kristen Stewart (Joan Jett) and Dakota Fanning (Cherie Curie) , a biopic about the legendary all girl teenage rock band Jett and Curie played in as teenagers in the mid 70s (1975-1979). The Runaways (2010) by Canadian director Floria Sigismond, which was in theatrical release in San Francisco in March, is out on DVD/BlueRay July 20.

According to Jett, Kristen Stewart played her well. “She’s authentic,” Jett said to Cinema Blend. “I don’t mean to put words in her mouth, but what I get is she feels she has to do it justice. She knows the Runaways have fans, she knows I have fans, and she was concerned about being authentic.”

Jett established her own label Blackheart Records in 1980, one of the first women to do so in the music industry.

Cheryl Dunye "The Owls" Hits Home at Frameline LGBT Film Festival

Cheryl Dunye’s latest feature The Owls is an experimental narrative tour de force. It made its debut at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival and is now at Frameline, smartly written by Sarah Shulman. The premise of the film concerns four middle aged dykes who cover up the accidental murder of a baby dyke. The initial moments of the film blast footage of Riot Girrl band "The Screech" with captivating music saturated with feminist political lyrics and jarring imagery to boot. With this the veteran director pulls you in from the first seconds.

The Owls is an odyssey about lesbian/queer personal politics and features actors that continue to put lesbian filmmaking on the map. First up are veteran actors that helped change the way lesbian narratives were made in Rose Troche’s Go Fish(1994). Guinevere Turner plays Iris, former Screech lead singer and V.S. Brodie, sticks with the initials as MJ, former Screech producer. Director Dunye doubles up as Carol with UK filmmaker Lisa Gornick who plays former Screech bass player Lily. Then there is baby dyke and hearth throb, Deak Evgenikos as Cricket and her tool toting mate, Skye, played by Skyler Cooper.

The net is cast with an arc of narrative threads and first up is the scenario of a couple long on the rocks about to do a property division as amicably as possible. Iris drinks too much and is broke and MJ needs to get a life more than being aroused by porn on her laptop in the abandoned house the couple once shared. Neighbor Carol has her hands full with her partner Lily, an English neurotic who is truly misplaced in the Los Angeles Canyon cutting vegetables and trying to get pregnant to save their relationship.

One year later after a party that went all wrong, the misfits get a knock on the door by Skye who claims she has left expensive gear behind in the house. They let her in and she winds up staying on. But in truth she is looking for her partner Cricket. And we know that the misfits have killed her, accidently.

All this in the way of narrative explanation but the rich iconography of images, in your face closeups with soul searching confessions, and split screen anecdotes interspersed with clever dialogue makes this an exciting film. The fragmented narrative and cinema verité encounters with the actors, and the collective nature of the venture is a fresh kind off story telling.

OWL stands for Older Wiser Lesbian and all of these actors save the one that is accidently knocked off are + 40. Cricket's “accident” is a symbolic action for how lost young lesbians don’t seem to acknowledge or care about the history of the lesbian movement. The film seeks to unite today’s nuanced lesbian - queer - butch - transman - movement with no labels but enough signposts that reveal a collective language known to the audience it caters to. Call it what you will, each woman defines herself, each woman speaks to the intricacies of relationships in the queer community, however isolated. In this case it’s a real slice of lesbian life in a little enclosure far from the city. The characters candidly and authentically speak to the camera and reveal their truths about what it means to be queer and lesbian in society today.

The filmmakers and actors belong to the Parliament Film Collective, a matrix of lesbian and new queer cinema creativity. The film cost 22,000 dollars to make and seems to fit in with the challenge put out by avantgarde filmmaker Maya Deren on making good affordable films: “my films cost what Hollywood spends on lipstick".

2010-06-01

Sweden's ABBA's win in Brighton's 1974 Eurovision with Waterloo launched their career (the hit is on soundtrack for Muriel's Wedding). Almost every European cuntry had it as number 1, 2 or 3 on their hit list that year. ABBA's clothes by today's standards were ridiculous, but the song was very popular.This year for the first time in 17 years, Sweden did not make it to the Eurovision finals. The rules are changing to make more contests possible, and this year more semi finals than previous years thus more chances to be dissed. Each country is supposed to send their "folk music" or pop music favorite to the city of the previous year's Eurovision winner. Of course folk music has changed through the years and is more pop than folk. In Sweden one form of folk music is called "Schlager", basically a driving "hit" , and it has a real gay following and the songs are light, about love and hope. The form usually includes an obligatory key refrain that goes up one octave("obligatorisk tonhöjning". Schlager is a Scandinavian and to a lesser extent Baltic State music form, but is also common in Germany and Austria.

Sweden's popular Melodifestival which paves the way to Eurovision also has increased the number of regional semifinals before the final selection. Veteran Pernilla Wahlgren's (top photo) bouncy Schlager tune Jag vill om du vågar (I Will if You Dare) this year gave way to a young person's song of hope (17), Anna Bergendahl: This is My Life. Young people usually vote on their mobiles for the telecast. Wahlgren, and other established Swedish pop singers are trying to improve their ratings entering Eurovision, but the fans see through this as a comeback or self-promotion to an already decorated career. But Wahlgren's song and performance was better this year anyway than Bergendahl's even with her pink sneakers.

Eurovision is a national sport, a sit home event; the streets of Sweden are virtually empty, for everyone is at a "Schlager fest". It's the music of the people, it's the thrill of being young, although older programmers and promoters commercialize the event with all their gimmicks and angles. Countries in Scandinavia usually vote for their neighbors in the Baltic area, countries in the Mediterranean for their neighbors. Its not a really accurate tally but still it is, for competition ignites the passion of a country and her allies. Maybe what you get in the end is the best of block votes, but not necessarily the best. Since it is a phenomena it's not possible to analyse this song contest intellectually - popular culture is hard to dissect. Eurovision is huge, yet ratings went down in Sweden since their was no winner at the final.These Eurovision winners should give you an idea of the vitality of the contest, the finely combed yet raw young talent, the uproar of the audience, and the feel for national singers that break their ass with ambition in their life's defining moment, intoxicating! Elena Paparizou - Number One, (Swedish born-Greek background) singing for Greece 2005, Kiev. The lyrics are queer enough ("you're my lover, undercover"), and Schlager in Sweden is a true gay art form. "Number One" was frequently played in gay nightclubs and remains a classic.

The torch to Elena was passed from Ruslana, Ukraine, Wild Dance, 2004.Ruslana was guest of honor at Gay Pride Stockholm 2004....this song is REALLY different from Number One, but yep, there she is Xena: Warrior Princess, subtext and all, without Gabrielle! But according to Eurovision enthusiast Adam Clack, this year the Ukraine sent Gabrielle! Aloyosha arrived on stage in a magical hood and belted out one of the strongest ballads of the contest singing Sweet People.

This year's winner comes from Germany and the upbeat pop song with a jazz beat shows exactly how, at least for this year, the Eurovision song contest is going and how far from the Schlager tradition. Lena Meyer Landrut had a hard time believing she won for Satellite, a song that describes the frenzy of new love and getting it, no matter what. Gone is any indication of German folk music, in this Euro vision of American jazz pop, sung in American English.